Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Topic Review (Newest First)

07-28-2016 05:01 PM

Jen H

Question. About to bring home my GSD Baron - he is going to have 2 brothers and a sister (my other dogs). The males are older (9 and 12), my female (the biggest) is a bloodhound mix and is 4yrs old. She wants to play so bad. She is good with the Bassett across the street, I am getting a little concerned about her possibly being to rough with baby Baron, he will only be 9 weeks old. Of course, all play will be under our supervision. With all this said - we have a TON of stairs! Coming into the house and going into the backyard. I think he will be fine, just looking for thoughts!

We are massive dog people (hence why I am about to have 4 total) - I have been researching and educating myself on GSD's since I was about 10 yrs old! I have wanted one the majority of my life, but I also have a HUGE soft spot for rescues!

Thanks!
Jen

05-24-2016 05:20 AM

a_ndre

I had the same doubt and after to talk with some trainner they all just say that excessive exercise is when the dog begins to want to stop and sit and you continue to insist with him, there you should stop and have a rest. My puppy with 3 months go hiking several miles and she is always chasing our adult dog and in the end she still want to play a bit more. When they are young, what all the recommend is not to walk in too soft ground like beach sand, too mud or snow.

05-14-2016 03:07 AM

pawpower

I'm so glad I saw this thread. I too kept hearing about restricted exercise, but man, Shadow has so much energy that he plays hard and runs around the house with our older rescue dog Pepper.

Town is 4 miles away from home. I don't know how old Jenna was. 4 months? 5 months? Be we walked into town. I gave her some water at the vets. Then we set out to walk back home. I got out of town to where my long, long street starts, and Jenna sat her butt on the ground refusing to move.

I had to lift her up onto my shoulders and carry her all the way back.

New rule: Do not walk any farther with your puppy than you are willing to carry them home.

good advice Same goes for senior dogs. I had an old gal stop and need a rest on the opposite side of the park from where the car was...and she was way too large to carry! So we both took a break.

02-08-2016 09:37 PM

selzer

Town is 4 miles away from home. I don't know how old Jenna was. 4 months? 5 months? Be we walked into town. I gave her some water at the vets. Then we set out to walk back home. I got out of town to where my long, long street starts, and Jenna sat her butt on the ground refusing to move.

I had to lift her up onto my shoulders and carry her all the way back.

New rule: Do not walk any farther with your puppy than you are willing to carry them home.

02-08-2016 09:09 PM

car2ner

my boy at 5 months could go do a couple of miles along a beach and then back down along the road, and after a nap be ready for more. Watch you pup. A nice long casual walk should be fine.

02-08-2016 09:04 PM

Bmaez

Took our dog for a few miles (couple of hours) of trail walking. Is this too much? 5 month old puppy

08-13-2015 07:16 AM

Gribby

This post has made me feel so much better. My Obedience Trainer told me im over walking Luna.

She gets a 40min off leash walk in a gated park in the mornings and around a 30min - 1hour walk in the afternoon again on and off leash, along with some new experiences and mental stimulation.

We always have a sit down if she seems tired or scared and just soak up the environment around us.

08-09-2015 11:40 PM

selzer

I like to let a puppy be a puppy. They can run about and jump and play and wrestle with other puppies that are similar in size. I do not prevent them from climbing stairs, though I have no upstairs or downstairs, so I only have a few steps. Evenso, I let the puppy be a puppy.

I do not go on forced marches or ride a bicycle with a young puppy. I do not force them to jump, and I do not push them to fetch or run after something for any length of time. Some puppies do not know when enough is enough, so we have to be realistic when we are directing exercise.

08-09-2015 09:58 PM

Amshru

Thank you Maggie Rose Lee!

Like many people with a new GSD puppy, I've worried about how much exercise is too much, but mine really loves her walks. Very reassuring to watch your trail videos.

Here's Elva, still running about after an hour in the woods at nearly 12 weeks. She came home and had a lovely sleep afterwards, but didn't seem overly tired at all. A tired puppy is a happy puppy? She's certainly very calm most of the time.

This thread has more than 10 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.